U.S. Pat. No. 4,569,109 Fetouh, assigned to the assignee of the present invention, discloses methods and means for the fracture separation of engine bearing assemblies, including connecting rods, which are integrally formed and subsequently separated into main body and bearing cap portions by fracture separation of the large bearing end.
In continuing the practical development of the method disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,569,109, it was desired to provide a machine for automatically processing a substantial volume of engine connecting rods through the fracture separation process in a manner that would provide a high quality fracture with little or no manual assistance.